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I am going to activate APNS on my app, so i am having bit confusion over following.

  1. What is basic difference between Development and Distribution Provisioning Profile on Provisioning Portal
  2. I am going activate APNS(Apple Push notification Service) to an Application which i am going to upload on Apple Store. what should i use?

This will be great for me. Thanks in advance.

Aleem
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    Follow - http://stackoverflow.com/questions/669019/iphone-development-what-is-the-difference-between-a-development-and-distributio – Chetan Bhalara Jul 12 '11 at 06:04

2 Answers2

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Just to explain a bit more, the development provisioning profile is for testing your App on a device (iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch), and the distribution profile is used when you're submitting your application to Apple to get it onto the store.

Both profiles are linked to your account as well as keychains on your computer.

If you'd like to install your software on several devices without using the App Store, you'll have to create an Ad Hoc distribution profile with the device ID numbers, and install that profile as well as the software, on all of the devices.

mjdth
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    In provisioning portal: Why can I link devices to a distribution profile then? From what you say it makes totally sense for development provisioning profiles, but I dont the the reason for distribution profiles. – Jakob Jun 22 '12 at 10:33
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    Note that if you want to BETA TEST your application through Apple TestFlight, you should definitely select "Distribution" profile (yes, the same option as for deploying to App Store) when signing your application. – fatuhoku Jan 14 '15 at 22:21
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    But why does Apple care whether or not the app is a distribution version or a development version? What is the significance of choosing between these options while activating APNS for the app? GCM / WNS don't seem to care whether it's on playstore or not AFAIK. – Mugen Apr 29 '16 at 09:16
  • I noticed with distribution profile you don't need to get the user to install the profile, they just need the signed IPA. if their device isn't in the used profile the app will "install" appear with the apps but will not run (with a dark icon) – et3rnal May 08 '20 at 01:53
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1) Development provisional profile, used for testing your app

2) Distribution provisional profile, used when you are ready to submit your app to the app store

Follow - iPhone development - what is the difference between a development and distribution provisioning?

Community
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Chetan Bhalara
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    Hi.. I have a doubt.. Why can't we use distribution profile only for all testing purposes?? Instead of using development and distribution we can use only distribution for all testing?? Can you explain me please?? Thanks in advance. – Narasimha Nallamsetty Apr 10 '15 at 09:44
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    I think you cant debug using a distribution profile – Padmika Jan 19 '16 at 02:06
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    [This](https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/qa/qa1682/_index.html) Apple site states why they can't. They're missing the entitlement `get-task-allow`. – Mr Rogers May 03 '16 at 22:06